Tracker's Story
by Quiver
Summary: If you make the wrong choice in life, where will it lead you.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck or any other Disney character....

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the Darkwing realities that **could** have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

_**Tracker's Story Part 1**_

A figure dressed in a dark blue trench-coat and mask stood alone in the eerie dark edifice that was once Darkwing Tower. "Why am I here?" he asked himself as he looked around his abandoned fortress. "There are only painful memories for me here." He walked slowly around the tower, now benighted, save the glow of moonlight through the broad archways. Equipment that was once considered Hi-tech and invaluable to his cause now sat caked in dust, forgotten. Nothing in the tower meant anything to him anymore.

A huge portrait hung on the wall in the center of the tower. Even with the soft glow of moonlight, it was too dark to see it. It didn't matter, he didn't want to see it anymore. It was a painting of Darkwing Duck as he once was. His purple and blue clad attire and an arrogant grin on his face. His chest out proudly, his cape flapping in the wind behind him. The duck stepped infront of the old mirror that stood in one corner of the tower. He lifted a hand to wipe away the dust that covered it. The reflection that looked back at him from the now tarnished surface was a duck in a simple dark blue trench-coat and a dark masked that covered his face. Only the old fedora was the same. It was the reflection of the Darkwing Duck that now existed. The old Darkwing, ego and all, was long dead.

A small night stand stood next to the mirror. Opening the night stand drawer, he pulled out a framed photo he'd put inside a long time ago. He looked at the picture with a heavy heart. It was a photo of himself as he had been all those years ago. The purple vest and fedora, a small child on his shoulder, both of them waving to the camera. He looked into the face of the child in the photo. Fiery red hair pulled back in pigtails, her liquid green eyes shined like emeralds. Gosalyn. His precious child. All the pain his heart had suffered under for so long intensified. He shoved the picture back into the drawer and slammed it closed. "Why am I here!" he shouted still trying to understand what had brought him back up to the tower. Something had drawn him back to this place after all this time, but what?

It didn't take long for the answer to present itself. Within a matter of minutes, the atmosphere began to get the feel of an almost electrical energy all around him. In front of him, awall, like clear rippling water began to materialize from the thin air. There was an eerie glow behind it, almost beaconing to him. Calling him to come through. He stared at it, and knew, somehow he knew. This was it. This was the answer to his prayers. This was how things were to be set right. Unafraid, he stepped forward and passed through the vortex of light to what awaited him on the other side.

Years Earlier....

2 AM. The blue chairs in the house of 537 Avian way spun quietly in the dark. When the spinning stopped, a duck dressed in in purple garb rose from one of the chairs and moved silently through the darkness of the unlit room and up the stairs.

Drake Mallard, still wearing his guise of Darkwing Duck opened the door to his daughters room and stepped in. He moved quietly to the side of the bed and gazed down at his sleeping child. She looked so sweet and innocent when she was asleep. It was hard to believe she was the same kid that sneaked into the bathrooms in the police station and poured super glue on the toilet seats! Drake smiled to himself, she was a handful, but she was worth it. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead before slipping back out.

He moved down the hall to his own room and stepped inside. "Hello Dark," came a rather flirtatious voice from the darkness. Darkwing grinned. He wasn't quite use to coming home to that sort of greeting, yet. A dim light came on next to the bed. His wife of two months, Morgana, sat up in bed and looked at Darkwing with a loving smile. "have a good night?"

Darkwing returned the smile "No," he answered as he moved behind a floor screen to change his clothes.

"Why not?" Morgan asked as she waited for her husband. Drake Mallard emerged from behind the screen in his PJ's and climbed into his side of the bed. "I couldn't keep my mind on my work. I just kept thinking about how beautiful you were all night. Did you put a spell on me or something?" He was just teasing of course.

She grinned at him. 'That would only be fair. After all, I've been under _your_ spell since the day I first saw you."

Drake laughed and lay back into his pillow. He was still getting use to the married life. He and Morgana had been married in the early fall and adjustments were still being made. For one, LaunchPad had decided that **four** was a crowd and had moved out of the Mallard house and into a small apartment a couple of blocks away. Morgana was learning to cook normal food along with her own _special _recipes. Gosalyn had made it clear, though kindly as possible, that she wasn't ready to call Morgana mom. That was alright with Morgana, she wasn't sure she was ready to be called Mom. Drake was still having a time of getting use to sharing his room with his wife. He had moved his desk into the loft over the Garage that had been LaunchPad's room.

Morgana kissed him lovingly on the bill. Drake grinned at her. There were definitely some things that were worth getting use to. They nestled down together for the night. "Good Night Morg."

"Good Night Dark."

It was only 2 weeks before Christmas and Morgana was rather looking forward to cooking her first authentic Christmas dinner. She had been living as Mrs. Drake Mallard for almost three months and things had gone rather well, all in all.

It was 2:30 PM and she was preparing dinner for Drake and Gosayln. She had actually learned to make normal food along with her own special recipes when she started her restaurant, which her aunt was now running for her.

From the kitchen she heard the front door fly open – and slam shut followed by Drake's yelling from the bedroom for Gosayln to stop slamming the door! Morgana smirked a bit, she had become accustom to this routine and found herself enjoying it. The kitchen door swung open and Gosalyn cam skipping in carefree, her book bag still swung over her shoulder. "What's for dinner, I'm starved!" she piped out as she peeked around Morgana to see what was being prepared.

Morgana smiled "chili." she answered as she reached over to a fresh baked plate of cinnamon cookies and gave Gosalyn two of them as a snack to tide her over until time to eat. "Thanks Morgana!" Gosalyn said taking the still warm cookies.

"Just _one_ cookie before dinner young lady!" Drake's booming voice came from his bedroom upstairs!"

Morgana and Gosalyn exchanged looks of astonishment. "How does he do that!" Gosalyn exclaimed.

Morgana shrugged and motioned for her to go on with her cookies when Drakes voice boomed yet again from upstairs. "I said _one_ cookie, Little Missy. Morgana stop spoiling her!"

Again they were both mystified, but Gosalyn gave a surrendering sigh and resentfully placed one of the cookies back on the plate. "Oh, guess what!" she told Morgana as she took a large bite out of her cookie.

"What?" Morgana asked sounding interested.

Gosalyn slung her backpack onto the table and pulled out a peace of paper and handed it to her step-mother. Morgana took the paper and looked at it. It was a science test with a big fat A at the top. "an A?" Morgana said in utter surprise knowing Gosalyn was not the best of students in school.

As if on Que Drake walked into the kitchen in his bathrobe "**A** what?" he asked Morgana getting into the conversation.

"**_A _**very good test score." Morgana informed him as she handed him the paper.

Drake looked at the test paper in total shock, then glanced unbelieving at his adopted daughter "You actually got an A?"

"A**__**" Gosalyn corrected. "it was on physics. I picked up on all that stuff when I use to go to my Grandpa's Lab . I didn't even have to study!" With that she snatched the paper from her dad's hand and skipped out of the room.

Drake turned to Morgana dumbfounded "to bad her Grandfather didn't run a _history_ museum on the side."

"Now don't ruin things for her." Morgana chastised her husband "She's very proud of.." she broke off feeling dizzy all at once. Drake grabbed her as she lost her balance and almost fell.

"Morg, what's wrong?" he asked with concern as he helped her over to a chair.

"I don't know." she answered a bit disoriented "I just suddenly got very dizzy." she saw the look of concern on her husbands face. "That was the first time it ever happened. Maybe I've just been on my feet to much today." She closed her eyes for a moment and took a couple of slow, deep breaths. She opened her eyes again "There. It's gone."

"Perhaps you should take it easy for the rest of the day. I'll finish up in here." Drake suggested, still concerned.

Morgana smiled lovingly at him. She was glad he fussed over her so. "I'm fine. Besides I'm almost finished, so why don't you go on in the living-room and make a fuss over your daughters rare A."

Drake grinned at her "If you're sure your alright."

she nodded.

"Well then. Perhaps I should enjoy looking at a _good_ paper from that kid for once." he stood to leave "Maybe I should have it _bronzed!_"

Within the next several days, Morgana experienced the dizziness and feeling sick off and on more frequently. Finally, Drake had insisted that she go to a doctor. Drake had walked in the front door with Gosalyn both of them carrying well wrapped packages in their arms. Morgana was laying on the sofa with a light throw over her. "Hey Morgana!" Gosalyn greeted, skipping up to Morgan and held a brightly wrapped package up for Morgana to see. "We've been Christmas shopping. This is the gift I got you. I had it professionally wrapped and everything. But you can't have it until Christmas because of Dad's dumb Christmas traditions."

"Alright little Missy. You keep that attitude up and Santa may just take your name off the _nice_ list. You know I had to bribe him by leaving him those fancy little petits fours last year instead of plain cookies, just to get your name back on the good list in the first place, right?"

Gosalyn retorted by sticking her tongue out at him which made Morgan laugh. Drake saw then, how week she seemed so frail. "Morg," he asked with concern "Are you OK?"

Morgan smiled at him oddly and sat up "I'm just fine Dark. In fact the doctor just called. My symptoms aren't anything to worry about and they'll go away on their own."

Drake sat on the sofa next to her. "Well, I'm glad to hear that." he noticed she was looking at him strangely. "Uh,he was sure there was nothing really wrong?"

She nodded.

"Well, how much longer does he think the symptoms will last?"

"About 9 months."

"Nine months! That's a long time to be getting sick every morning and........" He trailed off as the realization of what his wifes words were intending set in. "Uh, nine months ..you mean ...you're ...that is ..we're..."

"_We're_ going to have a _baby_." she finish for him.

For a long moment he seemed to be in a state of shock, then he threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly "We're going to have a baby!!" he exclaimed "Oh Morg, this is perfect! What a wonderful Christmas present!"

Gosalyn stood at the end of the sofa in utter disbelief. A baby? A _real_ kid all their own?

"Gos, did you hear that!" Drake exclaimed jumping up and grabbing her up in a big hug "You're going to be a big sister!!" Putting her back down he ran over to the phone "I've gotta tell LaunchPad right away! He's going to be a God father!"

"Oh Drake, now wait." Morgana said with some urgency in her voice as she snatched the phone from her husbands hands. "We have to talk about the Godfather part."

"Talk about what? Who else would we have as our baby's Godfather?"

Morgana looked a bit sheepish before answering with an uneasy tone "My father,

maybe?"

"Your father!!!!! Oh, no, no way!!"

"Now, Drake, he is going to be this baby's grandfather after all..."

"Don't remind me!"

The rather heated discussion went on as Gosalyn slipped up quietly to her room. She locked the door behind her and climbed into her bed. A _real_ baby! "He doesn't need _me_ any more," were the only words that she muttered softly before she drifted into a unpeaceful, worried sleep.

_To be continued...._


	2. Tracker's Story Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck or any other Disney character....

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the Darkwing realities that **could** have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

_**Tracker's story part 2**_

In the days that followed, Drake and Morgana had spread the news to everybody. They were both so very excited about the baby. They hadn't even noticed how withdrawn an quiet Gosalyn had become. If they had, they may have been more gentle with the news they had for her. They had been discussing preparations for the baby's arrival and had come to some unpleasant decisions.

She had just gotten home from school, only a couple of days before Christmas vacation started. Drake and Morgana were sitting on the sofa talking when they saw her. Both of them had very serious expressions on their faces. "What's wrong?" Gosalyn asked cautiously when she noticed the look they were both giving her.

"Gos, come here." Drake said patting the sofa beside him. Gosalyn walked over and sat next to her father, a feeling of dread rising in her. "Gos," Drake started as he put an arm around his daughters shoulder. "you know how excited everybody is about the baby?"

Gosalyn nodded numbly.

"Well, you know how babies need special things? More than Big kids do?"

Gosalyn didn't like where this conversation was leading.

Drake and Morgana exchanged worried looks for a moment then Morgana spoke leaning over Drake's shoulder to see her step daughter better. "What you father is trying to say Gosalyn. Is that a baby is going to need room to grow. Babies need space to play and grow ....so we, that is your father and I.."

Drake cut in "Gos, you want what's best for the baby, don't you?"

Gosalyn knew he wasn't wanting an honest answer there. She just nodded.

"Then you have to understand our decision."

"What decision?" Gosalyn asked, fear mounting in her voice.

"We have decided that your room is going to be the new nursery."

"What!!" Gosalyn yelled jumping off the sofa.

"Gosalyn, calm down!" Drake ordered in his fatherly fashion.

"You can't take my room away from me! It's mine!" She shouted hysterically.

"Gosalyn, be reasonable. The baby _needs_ that room, you don't!" Drake was fighting back the urge to yell.

"You promised!" Gosalyn retorted, the pain evident in her now shaky voice. "You promised that the room was mine forever ...even if you got married and had _real_ kids all your own. You said you'd never take the room away from me!" She looked him square in the eyes and asked in an accusing tone "What about our contract!"

Drake fell abruptly silent. He'd forgotten. He'd completely forgotten. He had actually made up a contract with her stating he'd never take the room away from her.

When he first adopted her and they'd moved into the house, Gosalyn was so insecure. She'd lost her parents, her grandfather, she'd lost the home she was born in. The home her grandfather had raised her in. She'd lost every tangible possession she ever had, save a battered old photo of her grandfather and herself in his Lab. Courts and Lawyers quickly finding every loophole in the system to rob her of the life insurances and savings put back for her by her parents and her grandfather. The government had even found a way to cheat the child of the money paid for her grandfathers invention, the Ramrod. Time and time again, the child had been neglected and swindled by the very people and society that was suppose to _protect_ her.

When they had moved into the house, Gosalyn was almost afraid to call it her home. Afraid to get comfortable in something that could be taken from her, again! Drake had come up with the idea of the contract, to giver her a sense of security. The contract had stated that for as long as she lived in that house, it was as much her home as it was his. The bedroom was her _personal_ domain, to live in, decorate and do with as she pleased. They had both signed it. And doing so had given her back a great deal of security, something she'd long lost in her young life.

Drake reconsidered for a moment, the decision to take the room from her. But then he glanced at his wife and remember the child she was carrying. His child. No, he was in the right before. The baby needed the room. He made his mind up right then and there, and for good. Gosalyn would just have to understand. And unknown to Drake, that momentary decision would start a change of events that would lead his life down a path he was never meant to follow.

Drake took a deep breath and made an attempt to make his adopted daughter understand. "I'm sorry Gosalyn. I know I promised and I know I made up a written agreement with you. But sometimes promises have to be broken. The baby needs your room, besides we're going to fix up the little room real nice for you..."

"The little room! That shoe box isn't fit for a dog house! It's too small to move around in. The window is the size of a toilet seat and it doesn't even open. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer. When LaunchPad moved in with us, _he_ wouldn't even live in it! He had to move into the loft over the garage!" Gosalyn shouted, tears now beginning to flow down her soft feathered cheeks, the a thought crossed her mind. "Why can't I have the loft for my room? If I have to lose my room to the dumb baby at least you could make an effort to be fair about it!"

"Gosalyn, you know your father is using the loft for his private study..."

"So, if he thinks he can fix that little room up so nice, let him have that for his study and give me the loft."

Drake's tolerance and temper both came to and end "That's it young lady." He shouted jumping to his feat. "I suggest you get your things packed because you are moving into the little room over the holidays!" Both Gosalyn and Morgana looked at Drake in total shock. Drake's eyes, now gleaming with anger met with Gosalyn's. He seemed oblivious to the tears running down the child's face. "Now!" he shouted.

Gosalyn turned and darted up to her room, sobbing uncontrollably.

Drake watched her go without any sense of remorse. His pride,as it too often did, overrode his judgment. It was then that he felt it, that strange sensation that came over him. It wasn't something he could put into words except to say, for a moment he felt – _displaced_.

He felt as if he were not were he should be. The atmosphere around him seemed to _shift,_ to move somehow. What a very bizarre feeling. And for just a moment, the room itself seemed to change. It was still his house, but something was different. He wasn't sure how, but the experience passed after a few seconds. He glanced around him, everything seemed normal again.

He sank to the sofa next to his wife. His face was completely flushed and he had a

ghostly look on his face. Morgana saw this and was concerned. "Dark, are you alright?"

He nodded insensibly "Yes, I guess so." he looked at her with the expression of a frightened child. "I just got this overwhelming feeling just now."

"What kind of feeling?" She was very concerned sense she was the one in the family that was use to _ sensing things."_

He shook his head trying to find words to describe it. "Like something was very wrong ....like a forewarning of disaster." He shook the feeling off (as much as he could).

He forced a smile and took his wifes hand, seeing the worry on her face. "Ah, it's probably nothing. Just got all worked up over Gosalyn's little theatrics is all." It was nothing to be concerned about."

Meanwhile across town at SHUSH headquarters. J. Gander and Grizlykoff rush into the Lab where Dr. Bellum is standing infront of SHUSH's super computer seemingly rather worried. "Dr. Bellum, what's wrong. Why did you send for me?" J. Gander asked.

Sara Bellum pointed to the giant monitor screen "Look for yourself." On the monitor, there was a view of what appeared to be outer space, except there was a spectral light pattern across the screen. Within the band of light there appeared to be a small tear. Around the tear the light was fluctuation unsteadily. "This light pattern is the time and space continuum. As you can see there appears to be a small tear in the continuum. From my readings, a _snag_ if you will, was made in the time and space continuum some time back." There was evidence of what might be called a _scar_ in the pattern. "I'm not sure what that mark really is, I'll need to do more research. But and educated guess would be that some time ago, in the recent past, somebody or something altered time and probably reality. The alteration was for the most part corrected, somehow, but seemingly not completely restored. It was that occurrence that allowed for the time continuum to be disrupted now in this time."

"Oh my," J. Gander said grasping the seriousness of the situation. "How bad is it?"

"I'm not sure. But what does have me concerned is it's expanding."

"Expanding? It's getting larger?"

Sara Bellum nodded grievously "It means, that time and reality as we know. it may have or may be altered, and is continuing to do so. The present and future may already have been changed, permanently."

J. Gander studied the image on the monitor. There was something about the apparent duration when the disturbance in time first happened. Something somebody had told him about. Wasn't that around the time Darkwing had told him that QuackerJack and Megavolt had traveled into the future and changed it? Darkwing had been very vague on details, intentionally no doubt. He had only told J. Gander about the entire event because of the Time Top. Darkwing felt that SHUSH should know of the Time Top's existence, though he had chosen to keep the time machine at his secret base. "I think we'd better contact Darkwing Duck immediately."

"What for do we need dumb duck, Sir? He knows nothing of this." Grizlykoff questioned the director.

"On the contrary agent Grizlykoff, he may know more about this situation than any of us. I pray he can also correct it before time and reality are altered, forever."

_to be continues...._

_Authors Note: Uh, is anybody confused with my phrasing? I'm not too great at scientific_

_explanations, sorry._


	3. Tracker's Story Part 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck or any other Disney character.

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the Darkwing realities that **could** have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

Tracker's Story Part 3..

Drake was still mystified over the experience he'd had earlier that day. He had convinced himself that it was all his imagination, brought on by the heated argument with Gosalyn over the bedroom. But still, the feeling of being out of place lingered.

He was glad when he received word from J. Gander Hooter that Darkwing Duck was needed at SHUSH. It would help take his mind off the strange experience, so he thought.

A short time later, Darkwing, J. Gander and Sara Bellum were standing infront of SHUSH's super computer. Dr. Bellum was explaining to Darkwing why they had sent for him. "As you know, Darkwing, SHUSH has been experimenting with time travel for some time. Though we have found that in doing so, we risk destroying reality as we know it. We have recently been studying the time continuum." The same image that Sara Bellum and J. Gander had been studying earlier came up on the monitor screen. "As you can see, there has been a disturbance in the natural occurring time-line."

"_Natural occurring_ time-line? Sounds like something you cure with Metamucil." Darkwing said a little discourteously.

Dr. Bellum knew that haughty tone all too well and didn't appreciate it. "It's very serious Darkwing. From what I've been able to discover, reality may have already been altered."

"Altered from what?"

"From what it was suppose to be!"

Darkwing drew a ragged breath "And just what was reality _suppose_ to be?" He really didn't believe any of this.

"I don't know!" Bellum snapped having lost all patients with the Masked Mallard.

"Then how do you know it's changed?"

"Because there's a tear in the time and space continuum."

"Well maybe the time and space continuum just needs a hemstitch!"

"DarkWing please.." J. Gander cut in. "This is most serious."

"Alright J. Gander, I'm sorry. But what does this have to do with me?"

"You once told me that QuackerJack and Megavolt used a time machine to travel into the future." J. Gander said looking at the monitor. "Dr. Bellum has been able to estimate the approximate duration the fabric of time first began to unravel."

Realization of where this was all leading, set in. DarkWing looked a bit peaked "You mean it was the Time Top that caused the tear in time?"

"Exactly. That's why we need you to tell us what you know about the Villains trip to the future. It may give us an idea of what's going on with the time line now."

"Oh," DarkWing realized what they were asking. But how could he tell them about what happened in the future without having to tell them who told _him_ about it. Gosalyn. How could he explain that this little girl was the one who changed the future by hitching a ride on the Time Top. How hard would it be for them to figure out that the child was something special to him, like his own daughter, perhaps, in order to change him into the madman Dark Warrior. For that matter, he didn't want to tell them about Dark Warrior at all. He didn't want J. Gander to know that in some other existence, he could have been a power mad lunatic!

But still, it seemed he'd have to tell them something. "Alright J. Gander. As you might have suspected, there were a lot of very big gaps in the story I told you." He looked at the old director who was waiting patiently for him to go on. "Well, as you and the rest of the world knows, QuiverWing Quack is my daughter. unfortunately, she has a bad habit of following me on some of my cases, as she did that night...."

As best as he could, Darkwing relayed the story of becoming Dark Warrior and taking control of the entire city, as Gosalyn AKA QuiverWing had told it to him. By the end of the story, both J. Gander and Sara Bellum both stood agape, set aback by the thought of Darkwing Duck becoming a tyrant overlord in another reality.

"Oh my," Sara Bellum finally said in a hushed tone. "If **you** were effected so dramatically by QuiverWing's going into the future," she turned back to the monitor, "the _unraveling thread_ may be **your** life."

"This doesn't sound good." Darkwing said flatly. "You mean that Gos ...err .... Quiverwing's little trip to the future may be affecting my present existence, somehow?"

Sara Bellum and J. Gander nodded simultaneously. "You see Darkwing, the tear in the fabric of time didn't start in the future some 20 years from now, rather the moment the Time Top first left its own time. It was that moment that began the change. So chances are that though they returned only a few minutes after they left, the damage was done. Your existence may have been affected from that time until now. But something has recently happened to increase the tear."

"Then reality may have already been altered in my life?" Darkwing asked becoming concerned. "But ..but, my life's great right now." He couldn't give them any details into just _how_ things were so great for him because of his secret identity. He really wished he could brag to J. Gander about his aspects of becoming a new father. Just then, a fear overtook him. What if the baby had something to do with the altered reality. What if the baby wasn't suppose to be born? They said that something had happened _recently_ to increase the tear. "Is there anyway for me to tell what it is that's _altering_ in my **reality**?!" Darkwing asked with unexpected alarm.

"I'm afraid you're the only one who can figure that out Darkwing." J. Gander sighed "After all, it's your life that is being effected.

"Well how am I suppose to know if things are happening the way they're suppose to or because some fruit-cakes messed up my time-line-continuum-reality-thing ...what-ever?"

"You got me," was all Sara Bellum said in an all to light tone.

Darkwing gave her a very harsh glare which succeeded in unnerving her somewhat.

"Well. There may be anomalies in the time-line. The breaking down of the fabric of one reality so that another may actually get a glimpse into it. Of course that's only in theory."

"Huh?"

Sara Bellum often found herself going over peoples heads with her scientific explanations. Even J. Gander seemed bewildered at her last explanation. She tried to simplify her elucidation.

"If reality is being altered, the true reality, meaning how things would have happened had the time-line not been disturbed, may cross over into this one or vice versa."

"Uhg," was the first thing out of Darkwing's mouth. "You mean, I may go home and find _myself_ sitting at the table eating lunch?"

"No, not likely." Dr. Bellum tried to explain in laymen terms. "It's not likely that the realities would be that **_solid_** or lasting. Let me put it this way ...if you happen to get a glimpse of **your own _ghost_** any time soon, **that** will be your alternate reality self!"

There was very little that could truly faze DarkWing Duck, but this _enlightenment _seemed to have succeeded in doing just that. The looked of bewilderment on the Masked Mallards face made J. Gander very uncomfortable. "I'm sure there's nothing to worry about DarkWing. I'm sure that it's nothing that can't be righted."

"_Righted?"_ DarkWing thought, what if it was something he didn't want righted! What it if it had something to do with his and Morgana's unborn child! "Dr. Bellum, if this is my _life line _we're talking about, am I the only one who will be effected?"

Dr. Bellum glanced nervously at J. Gander who spoke up. "I doubt that. You are Darkwing Duck, after all. You hardly lead a quiet uneventful life. And since your life had such an impact on others...."

"So as my own-little-reality is possibly being redefined it could inadvertently effect everybody around me, the whole world even?"

J. Gander nodded.

Having heard all he wanted to DarkWing turned to leave. "Keep me posted if you learn anything new J. Gander."

As he walked out to the RatCatcher, the thought kept going through his mind. _"What if it is the baby? Then what? Do I help SHUSH find a way to right the time continuum and prevent my **own **child from ever being **born**?"_ DarkWing rubbed his temples with his fingertips. "I feel a migraine coming on."

_To be continued.... (as soon as DarkWing takes some aspirin ...smirk) _


	4. Tracker's Story Part 4

Disclaimer: I do not own DarkWing Duck or any other Disney character.

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the DarkWing realities that **could** have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

_**Tracker's Story Part 4**_

In light of his situation, DarkWing had decided to pass up going out on patrol to stay home with Morgana. He had not told her much about his case other than SHUSH discovering a disturbance in the time and space continuum. He didn't tell her that the whole thing evolved around him, and that their lives as they knew it may all be a mistake that was never suppose to be. She didn't need to be upset in her condition. Besides, DarkWing wasn't convinced that there was anything wrong. Life just seemed to wonderful right now. Though he did find himself jumping at his own reflection, expecting to run into a apparition of his alternate self. Boy, did Dr. Bellum ever get into his head with that one!

Unfortunately, things at home weren't exactly peaceful. Gosalyn was shunning both Drake and Morgana since her fight with her adopted father over the bedroom. Drake had not paid her little silent treatment much mind. He simply ignored her in return, which was less than a mature approach to such a delicate matter. He and Morgana had decided to turn in early that night. He was mentally stressed out after the days events. His head had no sooner touched the pillow than he was asleep.

"**_Come on Dad." A voice called. Drake looked up to see Gosalyn standing a few yards infront of him, beaconing him to come._**

"**_Gosalyn! Young Lady, what are you doing out of bed in the middle of..the...night..." he trailed of as he realized it was broad daylight. And he and Gosalyn were both outside. What's more, he was dressed as DarkWing Duck, not Drake Mallard. "What's going on here?" He glanced around, finding himself standing on a large stone path in the middle of a valley of some sort. Nobody else was around. There were no trees or shrubbery. DarkWing looked down at the path under his feet. The stones were a mixture of colors. Some were purple some were blue, there were silver and white stones as well. The path was wide. DarkWing lifted his eyes to follow it. A short distance ahead of where Gosalyn stood, the path branched off into several smaller paths, all the stones on the smaller paths seemed to be a solid color, either purple or black or blue, all leading in completely different directions. All of them save the main path he was on, led into what looked like a wall of rippling light that hung in thin air, a short distance a way. He looked ahead of him to where the main path led. At the point where the other paths branched from it, the stones in the path changed to just silver and white and led up to a near by hill._**

"**_OK, This is a dream." He shrugged "Might as well see what happens." He told himself as he walked up to join his daughter._**

_**Gosalyn grabbed his hand eagerly "Hurry Dad. He's waiting for us you know."**_

"**_Who is." DarkWing asked._**

_**She pointed to the hilltop. DarkWing looked to see that somebody was now standing at the top of the hill, at the end of the path. The figure was dressed in a white and silver**_

_**costume, the make of the costume resembled his own in some ways. "Who is that?" He asked Gosalyn who was tugging at his hand anxious to go.**_

"_**Don't be silly pop. You **know **who it is." Gosalyn giggled. DarkWing looked up again at the figure on the hill. He did know the duck in white from somewhere but he couldn't put his finger on it..." **_

_BRRIIINNGGG!!!!_! The harsh ringing of the alarm clock woke him suddenly. Sitting up in bed, Drake hit the silencer on the alarm. He looked at the clock, 9 AM, and he hadn't been out all night this time, it was time to get up. Drake sighed and lay back on his pillow . What an interesting dream, he'd like to have finished it. It had been so vivid, so real. He wondered what made him have such a dream. Who was that duck on the hill that resembled him. Drake shot back up in bed. Resembled him! Could that have been an alternate version of himself!

He shook his head trying to think clearly. It was unlikely that the Time-Continuum-reality-mix-up would be invading his dreams. It was just a dream, nothing more. He hadn't seen any specters of himself so far. Maybe Bellum was just wrong about all this time distortion stuff. He had a hard time believing things were meant to be any different than what they were. He was getting more respect from the people of St. Canard since that Christmas past and he and Morgana were expecting a baby! How could destiny possibly be intended to be different than it was! Maybe this was the way things were meant to be, besides there wasn't a lot he could do about it. In any case, he had his hands full with a certain red-headed little duckling who was not making life easy for him.

It was the day before Christmas eve, The Mallard's first holiday as a family, was looking anything but merry.

Gosalyn sat by herself in the kitchen, eating her breakfast of cold cereal. Morgana entered, going to the counter for some hot coffee. She glanced at her step daughter, who refused to acknowledge her presence. Morgana made an attempt to reconcile with her. "Cold this morning, isn't it?" She asked looking at the red haired child who sat staring down at the table. Morgana took her cup of decaf and sat down across from her. "Gosalyn can't you try to understand why we're doing this?"

"I already understand." Gosayln replied flatly without looking up.

"Do you?"

"Yeah" Gosalyn answered as she slipped out of her chair and started for the door "I understand. The _better **room**_for the _better_ **_kid_**. After all _I'm_ just **_adopted!_**" She marched out of the kitchen, leaving her stepmother feeling guilty.

A few minutes later, Drake entered the kitchen in his bath robe to find Morgana sitting quietly at the table, a look of concern on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Morgana sighed wearily "I don't know Dark. Maybe we are doing Gosalyn wrong. She's been so depressed since we told her we were giving the baby her room."

Drake drew a long deep breath, he wasn't in the mood for this right now. "Morg. You and I talked this out thoroughly before we ever said anything to Gosalyn. We agreed it was the only rational thing to do. The baby needs the bigger room."

"What do children understand about rationality. That is a labor of the _mind_, and a mature mind at that, children see things with their _hearts_. And Gosalyn's heart is breaking right now." Morgana said with a a depth of sadness.

Drake looked at his wife and realized how concerned she was for the little girl. He hoped that Gosalyn would someday understand how lucky she was to have a stepmother that cared for her so much.

"I know Morgana, but what else can we do? The little room is just _too_ little for the nursery."

"Well, you know, we could give her the loft and you could use the little room for your study, like Gosalyn suggested earlier."

"Oh no." Drake protest "I need someplace to go for peace and quiet, you know..."

"You have the tower for that Dark, and you're hardly in the loft anyways..." she paused and studied her husbands face. He didn't look to cooperative about the whole thing but at least he was hearing her out.

"Now, you're the one who talked about making sacrifices. Shouldn't you be willing to make a few sacrifices for the good of the family?"

Again Drake dew a deep breath. She had him there, but still, he wasn't ready to give in. "I know that Morg, but I don't want Gosalyn to have the loft."

"Why?"

"Because she has been pushing us away since we told her about the baby. She's avoiding us, not talking to us...." he paused for a moment to take a sip of his coffee. "Giving her a room that is set off by itself is just going to make it easier for her to pull away from us."

Morgana understood what Drake was saying but she didn't really agree with his logic. Still she knew the tone of voice he was speaking in. It was the _I'm dead set in this, we're doing things my way,_ tone. And she knew better than to try and argue with him when he got that way.

Drake stood up from the table "We might as well get this over with. I'll start moving her into the new room." he said turning to go up stares to Gosalyn's room. All at once, he again was overtaken by a sense of foreboding. Again his surrounding seemed to change in some way. Things – little things seemed to be different. The kitchen table was a few inches farther to the right. There were pictures on the wall that weren't there before. The walls were painted a different shade of white. Drake glanced at Morgana, who for an instant seemed to disappear from where she sat at the table, then reappear standing next to it. She was dressed in a light blue dress instead of her usual red one.

Overwhelmed by the strange occurrences Drake attempted to sit back down, only the chair he attempted to sit in faded unexpectedly into thin air. Drake flopped down on the floor a couple of feet from where the chair now stood.

"Dark!" Morgana called getting up to go to her husband.

Drake sat on the floor gazing around the room with a dazed look on his face. Everything was back to normal, for now. For the first time Drake realized what was happening. What had happened to him the day before wasn't just his imagination. It was the _anomalies _Dr. Bellum had spoken of. It had to be! Reality, had been altered. Somehow, life as he knew it, now, as things were, was not how they were suppose to happen. Drake closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. He felt like he had just entered the twilight zone.

"Dark?" Morgana said with great concern as she knelt next to her husband. "Dark, are you alright?"

"I – I don't know anymore Morg, I just don't know.."

_To be continued....._


	5. Tracker's Story Part 5

Disclaimer: I do not own DarkWing Duck or any other Disney character.

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the DarkWing realities that **could** have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

_**Tracker's Story Part 5**_

Drake was sitting on the sofa with Morgana drinking his second cup of coffee. In light of the circumstances, he'd decided it was time to tell her everything. "So basically, reality, at least for me, is out of sync." he finished his explanation and watched his wifes face with concern.

Her expression was one of disbelief. "Oh Dark, it doesn't seem real. How can things _not_ be as they were meant. Everything seems so right." She placed her hand on her slightly risen stomach. The same fear that Drake had had now crept into her thoughts. She looked at her husband with alarm. "Dark, you don't think..."

"No, I don't! I can't believe that this baby wasn't _meant_ to be. It just seems so right!" Drake said assuringly. He slipped an arm around her shoulder "I don't know what part of my life is out of the Time Continuum Pattern, or what ever you choose to call it. Besides, even if things weren't suppose to happen this way, who's to say we can't leave things the way they are. I know Bellum has a way of blowing things out of proportion. For all we know, my _alteration of the reality_, may have been getting a Coo-Coo-Cola instead of a rootbeer last week at the drive through!"

Morgana tried to smile "I'm sure it's something like that. Strange that I didn't sense anything though.."

"There you see. If anything was really wrong, you'd probably know it before I did." Drake said trying to reassure her. "Come on Morg. It's the Christmas season after all. Don't worry about anything other than what we're going to name our baby."

She smiled more sincerely this time "I've been thinking about that for days. What do you think of Aila if it's a girl?"

Drake grinned "I think it's a perfect name for a little girl." He looked up toward the second story "Speaking of little girls. I think we have something else to deal with right now." He wanted to get off the entire Alternate-reality-thing and moving Gosalyn into the little room was as good as an excuse as any. "You'd better call LaunchPad for me." he said standing up and heading for the staircase. "He's suppose to help me get Gosalyn's bed set up in the new room."

Gosalyn was sitting by the window staring out at the gloomy winter weather. It was cloudy and cold. The trees and the ground were barren, but there was no sign of snow. Outside her window was the view of mud and dried broken leaves, no green was left. There was nothing cheerful for her this season, There was as much gloom in her home as there was outside it's doors. The holidays were not bight at all.

She heard her door open and turned to see her father walk in. _"He didn't even knock" _She thought bitterly before turning her back to him to look back out the window. the walls of her room were now bare save a few protruding nails that had been used to hang pictures. The boxes were piled up on the floor, crudely packed with Gosalyn's belongings.

"Well let's get crack'en kiddo. These boxes aren't going to move themselves. Of coarse, some of the stuff you bring home, maybe they can." he chuckled in an attempt to lighten the tension in the air. No such luck. She barely shot him a cold look that would have scared Negaduck before snatching up one of the smaller boxes and stomping out of the room with it.

She clumped into the _little_ room at the end of the hall to which she had been exiled. Upon entering her new cramped quarters, she evaluated it's condition. The walls were covered with old faded wallpaper that was seriously out dated. It was stained in too many places to count. The window was small and round like a porthole on a ship and it didn't even open. The carpet was flat and dull. Like the wallpaper, it was covered in stains. The whole room had a musty smell to it. Of course it did! Up until now it had been used for a storage room! The room wasn't even as big as their bathroom – and there wasn't even a closet! Most of all, it was freezing! Her eyes fell on the small vent on the floor. It was caked in dust and cobwebs. It had never worked for some reason and her father had never bothered to have it fixed. Why should he, they were only going to use it for storage. _"Oh yeah, you fixed it up real nice just like you promised dad!"_ she thought bitterly _"Then again, you promised you'd never take my room away from me!"_

She threw her box recklessly on the floor, not caring if she broke anything. Spinning quickly on her heals she marched from back towards her old room for another box, passing her father on the way.

Drake saw the anger in her eyes as she went by him, not bothering to spare him a glance. He really didn't want her to be mad at him, especially not here a Christmas time. But they all had to do things that they didn't want to in life. He thought it was an important lesson for his daughter to learn.

He stepped into the room and looked around. Somehow he didn't see it in the same light Gosalyn did. It was small, but she'd get use to that. The wallpaper was not that attractive, but slap a few posters up, nobody would be the wiser. The carpet had stains, but as messy as Gosalyn was, stains were inevitable anyway, so that didn't really matter. It was a _bit_ cold, but she could leave her door open and the heat could come in from the hall. He'd get around to calling somebody to come out and look at the furnace. They'd get heat in the room sooner or later. Yep, he didn't see what was so bad about the little room at all. It had it's charm. Gosalyn would learn to like it, just given some time.

LaunchPad showed up and he and Drake undertook the task of taking Gosalyn's bed down and setting it back up in her new room. Unfortunately, after the bed was put up and her dresser moved in, there wasn't enough room for all her stuff, or even half of it for that matter! Drake, as usual had a simplistic answer to the whole thing.

He looked around the hallway at the boxes waiting to be taken into the little room. Morgana and Gosalyn stood next to the banister watching the two men trying to organize everything, without success. Then Drake got what he thought, at the time, was a brilliant idea..

"You know,you really don't need all this stuff anyways. You've got enough here to start your own toy store." He picked up a baseball and looked at it. "It's not like you ever played with _all_ this stuff anyway. We'll pick out a couple of things to keep and the rest of the stuff we could give to the Children's Hospital. It is Christmas time after all!"

Gosalyn couldn't believe he was suggesting that, on top of everything else, they give her stuff away. He wasn't even asking her what she wanted, he had decided for himself that it was the right thing to do! She felt the hurt and anger swelling up inside.

For some strange reason, Drake thought Gosalyn would agree with him and would be happy to give all her personal belongings away to charity.

Instead of a look of excitement on Gosalyn's face, as he for some reason expected, he saw tears flood her eyes. "I hate you! If you think giving stuff away is so noble, why don't you give your own stuff away! You talk about making sacrifices, but I'm the only one having to give up _anything_! You don't even care what_ I_ want! It's all about that dumb baby! I HATE YOU!!!!!!" she screamed in a voice full of rage and pain as she turned to run. She charged down the stairs and out the door without even stopping for her coat slamming the door loudly as she went.

Drake now stood in the doorway of the little room in a state of shock. Gosalyn's words had cut into him. She had been mad at him before but had never said that she hated him – ever.

"Gee DW, I think you said the wrong thing." LaunchPad said meekly, stating the

all too obvious, as always.

Morgana moved to her husbands side, knowing that he meant well with his suggestion. "Giving her unused toys to the Children's Hospital for Christmas is a good idea Dark. But

you just suggested it at the wrong time. She feels like we're taking everything away from her all of the sudden. She's still getting use to my being here all the time. She's had to learn to share you with me. Now the baby is coming and we took her room from her. The toys can wait for another time can't they? Maybe she'll feel more like letting go of some of her possessions after she's settled into her new room."

"Well what are we suppose to do with them until then? There's just no room in that tiny bedroom for all her stuff." Drake pointed out.

"Well, we don't have to move all her stuff out of the old room right away. We aren't going to start fixing it up for a nursery until after Christmas. We can leave a lot of her stuff in there for now."

Drake gave a surrendering sigh "Alright Morg. I guess we can leave some of the stuff in the old room for now." He picked up one of the boxes to take it back to Gosalyn's old room.

A few minutes later, Drake and LaunchPad had carried most of Gosalyn's belongings back to the old bedroom. "oh my back is killing me." Drake said rubbing his soar back. He glanced around at all the boxes stacked up around the room. "I never realized Gosalyn had so much junk!" He reached into a box and and pulled out an unopened pack of Wacky Puddy. "Look at this. A lot of this stuff, she hasn't bothered to open."

LaunchPad took a doll, still in it's original packaging, out of one of the boxes. "Hey this is the QuckyPatch doll you got her for her first Birthday after you adopted her. "It hasn't even been open, that makes it a collectors item, doesn't it?"

Drake took the box from LaunchPad and looked at it. "Yeah, I guess it does. These things are worth some money too." he paused and thought about when he'd bought it for the little high spirited tomboy's Birthday. A _doll_ - for _Gosalyn_? "What was I thinking?"

"Hey you know something Drake. I bet Gosalyn could sell some of this stuff for a pretty penny. She'd probably be willing to let it go for a little profit."

"Thats' actually a great idea LP!" Drake praised his friend.

"Yeah and she probably won't hate you so much then." LaunchPad blurted out without thinking (nothing new for LaunchPad, of course).

Drakes face fell at the thought of Gosalyn screaming that she hated him and running off.

"Yeah.." he said dully. He dropped the doll back into a box. "I know she hates the idea of giving up her room and I know Morgana and I are so preoccupied with the idea of the baby coming..." his face lit up at the thought of the baby. He couldn't help it. There was a time in his life, he never believed he'd actually have a baby of his own – for that matter, he had never believed he be married some day!

"I know DW. I'm excited about it too and it's not even _my_ baby!" LaunchPad said picking up on Drake's excitement. "I think maybe Gos just kinda feels left out of everything ya know."

"Yeah, I guess that's it. Maybe there's something Morgana and I could do to get Gosalyn involved in the baby's coming. If she felt a part of all this, she might come round." Drake glanced down at the boxes of toys and nicknacks Gosalyn had compiled since she come to live with him. An idea crept into his mind. "Hey, I have a great idea of how to make Gosalyn feel a part of all this!" he exclaimed grabbing up one of the boxes "Come on LP, "Lets get this stuff Loaded into my car."

Later that evening, Gosalyn came home, shivering from having been out in the cold so long without a coat. She had been wandering aimlessly around town, sulking and wishing

that there wasn't going to be a baby – ever.

Drake and Morgana were sitting on the sofa watching television when she slipped in the front door. "Gosalyn, are you hungry?" Morgana asked as the little girl jogged quickly up the staircase without bothering to answer her stepmother. She walked passed her old room with a heavy heart and marched into the small room at the end of the hall she now occupied. Opening the door, she looked around. She loathed that room. With the bed set up and the dresser moved in, she barely had room to move around in. She noticed that most of her stuff was infact gone. Her father did what he said, no doubt, he'd given her stuff away, just like he had her room. "I really do hate him!"

_To be continued...._


	6. Tracker's Story Part 6

Disclaimer: I do not own DarkWing Duck or any other Disney character.

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the DarkWing realities that **could** have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

_**Tracker's Story Part 6**_

Though DarkWing Duck had been out on patrol that night, he had not been gone any longer than necessary. He'd returned home just before Midnight. Both Gosalyn and Morgana were asleep. He peeked in on Gosalyn spending her first night in her _new_ room.

She was bundled up in an old quilt she'd dug out of the old hope chest in the hall closet. It smelled like cedar, but it was warm. Drake noted just how cold the room was, he could almost see his own breath, but they could have the furnace fixed after the holidayes. It wouldn't be intolerable until then, he decided. Though the troubled look on young Gosalyn's face said otherwise.

Well, Drake was sure all that would change Christmas morning, she had a wonderful surprise awaiting her. Drake was convinced, she'd be as excited about it as he was.

He closed the door to Gosalyn's room and headed for his own. Morgana was actually asleep this time. Drake changed his clothes and crawled into his side of the bed, quietly so not to wake his wife. Settling in for the night, he looked over at Morgana's face. It was said that expecting mothers had a glow to them. Indeed, his wife did have a radiant glow to her face.

Drake couldn't help but smile, wondering if anybody ever said the same thing about the father. He knew he felt a glow inside of him just thinking about the baby. He couldn't wait until it was born for he could hold it in his arms. He didn't care if it was a boy or girl as long as it was healthy. It would be happy, without a doubt, he'd make sure of that! Life seemed so wonderful right now......He drifted off to sleep with that thought.

"_**Dad! Dad!" Drake became aware of Gosalyn's voice ringing out. He tried to see where she was, why she was yelling with such alarm. He realized he was back in that**_

_**same dream. He was wearing his DarkWing costume, Gosalyn was with him. There was a large path branching off into several smaller ones... but something was wrong. He looked down at the walk under his feet. It was then that he realized he had walked onto one of the smaller paths. "Dad!" he heard Gosalyn's voice and felt something tugging at his cape. He looked back to see Gosalyn desperately holding onto the dark cape, yelling for him to stop. "Come back, you're going the wrong way!" she cried.**_

_**For some strange reason, he didn't feel compelled to listen to her. He glanced up at the hilltop the main path led to. The duck in the white and silver costume was still there. He was watching them with some apparent concern. He was shaking his headed**_

_**worriedly. Seeing the Duck in White's reaction to his wandering off the main path, DarkWing felt fear rise up inside of him. Maybe he shouldn't be on this path. He looked again at the colored stones under his feat. Dark Blue, all of them. Rather dull, really, and DarkWing thought them somewhat unattractive to the eye.**_

_**Well, he had only taken a small step onto a different path, surely no harm was done. He turned to step back on the main path with Gosalyn when he heard something in the distance. It was faint, but he could have sworn it was a baby's cry! It was coming from the path he now stood on. DarkWing looked down the blue stones path. He couldn't see anything, but... There it was again, the baby crying. It was his baby. It had to be his baby. Instinctively, he started to go in the direction of the crying.**_

"_**Dad NO!" Gosalyn cried out in panic pulling hard on her father's cape. **_

_**Turning sharply to the girl DarkWing hissed "Let GO! NOW!" The surprisingly harsh tone in her fathers voice made the child release her hold on his cape. Without giving her or the Duck in White a second thought, he turned back to the dark path and took another step..."**_

"Dark, Dark, wake up!" Morgana called from her side of the bed as she gently shook her sleeping husband.

"Wha ...what's wrong?" Drake asked opening his eyes to see his wifes worried face.

"You were dreaming." Morgana said softly. "and you sounded angry."

"Angry?" Drake asked sitting up, rubbing his eyes. His mind was still fuzzy.

"Yes, it sounded like you were yelling at somebody."

Drake now recalled the dream. "Ah yeah, just yelling at Gos!" he chuckled.

"In you're _dreams_ too?" Morgana asked. Drake would have laughed at the remark but she sounded serious."

Smiling he leaned over and gave his wife a peck on the cheek. "What time is it?" he asked with a yawn.

"6:30. Not quite time to get up yet." she told him as she lay back down.

Drake lay back in bed as well. "Well, it's Christmas Eve, Morg. Our first together as a family." he said affectionately. He reached over and pated his wifes hand adding "And next year, we'll have to hang another stocking by the fireplace."

Morgana smiled at the thought. "That sounds wonderful. But we have this one to look forward to for now."

"Mmm," Drake uttered a muffled sound and lay his head back in his pillow "Christmas Eve, the craziest day of the year. We'd better get what rest we can. It's going to be a _long_ day!"

Christmas eve came with an air of sorrow for Gosalyn whose first night in her new room was a restless one. It didn't help that she woke up to dingy walls, cramped quarters and the intense cold. Gosalyn bundled herself up in her Quilt. "I hope they have the decency to give me an_ electric blanket_ for Christmas!" Morgana had suggested that she leave her door open for the warmth could come in, but that meant giving up her privacy and she felt she'd given up enough as it was! She lay in the bed and shivered. As cold as she was, she wasn't in any hurry to get up and face her father. She was still upset with him for doing her so wrongly. "Can't he see he's being totally unfair!"

"Gosalyn breakfast!" Gosalyn heard Morgana call from the kitchen. _"Since when does she fix breakfast." _Gosalyn thought, still not in a hurry to get up.

"Gosalyn Breakfast, _Now_!" her fathers voice boomed from the kitchen. That was it, time to get up and face the drudgery of the day. Gosalyn prepared herself, making mental recollection of where she'd put her clothes the night before. "OK on a count of three, ....one, two .._three_!" She threw off the warm quilt, bound out bed, grabbing her clothes from the floor and charged out the door into the well heated hall and then to the bathroom, to dress someplace warm.

She drug herself down the stairs knowing she'd get an ear-full from her father if she didn't get down to breakfast while it was still warm.

She entered the kitchen to find her father and stepmother already eating. Without a word, she climbed into the chair at the end of the table. She took a couple of waffles, though she wasn't too hungry. She hoped to eat quickly and get away from them before the subject of _how did you sleep your first night in you **new** room,_ came up. unfortunately, that's the first thing Drake asked. "So how was the first night in your new room."

"_Here we go," _Gosalyn thought with much dread. She wasn't about to lie and say it was fine and she knew what would happen if she was honest. She shrugged, avoiding eye contact, hoping he wouldn't push the subject he did.

"So what's that suppose to mean?" he asked and awaited an answer. Gosalyn was convinced he was looking for an excuse to start yelling at her. She stared at her plate of waffles, she really didn't want them. Right now, she didn't want anything which gave her an idea. "My stomach hurts," she said feigning a tone of unwellness. She pushed the plate of Waffles away and slid slowly back out of the chair.

Drake looked at her with incredulity "What do you mean, your stomach hurts! It's Christmas Eve!" As if that fact alone made it impossible to be sick that day.

"Drake," Morgana cut in. She reached down and felt Gosalyn's forehead. "She's not warm. But she was outside all afternoon without a coat, yesterday."

"Oh great." was all Drake said.

Gosalyn was excused to go back to bed. Go back to bed! The room was freezing! But it was that or have to face the wrath of a displeased father when she finally told him what she really thought of that stupid room.

She crawled back under the quilt, keeping her clothes on for warmth. She cuddled herself up in the quilt and closed her eyes. This was going to be a very joyless Christmas, she could feel it.

_To be continues...._


	7. Tracker's Story Part 7

Disclaimer: I do not own DarkWing Duck or any other Disney character.

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the DarkWing realities that **could** have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

_**Tracker's Story Part 7**_

Gosalyn had managed to fake her way through the whole day. The fact that she was laying in that cold incommodious room had Morgana convinced she was sick. Drake on the other hand wasn't so convinced especially since the family was suppose to go out for last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. Morgana had the last word on the subject or Drake would have dragged Gosalyn along, sick or not, rather than break one of his Christmas traditions.

As it was, Morgana insist that Gosalyn just stay home and watch TV while they went out

for the day. The girl wasn't about to complain. She got to lay on the sofa in the warmth of the living room and watch holiday specials _and_ she got a break from her somewhat overbearing father.

If things had not gone so awry in her life, she would have taken this opportunity to look for presents. But she wasn't in the mood this year. She just couldn't shake the feeling this Christmas was not going to be a happy one, at least not for her.

Stretched out on the sofa watching _Nester, the Long Eared Christmas Donkey,_ Gosalyn soon fell asleep.**_ The next thing she was aware of was standing on a strange path in the middle of Nowhere. It was daytime but the sky was dark with storm clouds. Lightning flashed and raging thunder rolled across the blackened skies. Gosalyn looked around,frightened and confused. She was standing on an unusual walkway, a stone path of some sort. The stones were of mixed colors,silver, white, blue purple, even black, all mixed together. But only a few steps ahead of her was a path of only silver and white. The path seemed to almost emit a soft glow in the otherwise bleak surroundings . Glancing up she saw a Duck dressed in the same colors of that path, white and silver. He was watching her with great concern._**

_**Gosalyn saw somebody only a short distance from her, moving away on another path, one of a darker color. She recognized him. "Dad!" she yelled, starting to run to him. But the path he was on began to break apart from the main path. The ground opened between them and a chasm now stood between father and daughter. "Dad!" she screamed. DarkWing didn't respond to his daughters cries. Rather he had not heard her or just ignored her, Gosalyn didn't know. What she did know was, she was scared.**_

_**Her thoughts turned to the Duck in White standing on the hilltop. She spun around to see him motioning to her to come to him, quickly. Gosalyn started to run to him for protection. Her feet left the multi-colored path for the light colored one only to slip and fall. She fell hard as the ground shook around her. She tried to stand but couldn't. Looking up at the hilltop, she saw the Duck in White standing there, watching sadly. 'Why doesn't he help me!" She thought. She began to crawl towards him, the wind now blowing hard and cold, almost driving her off the path. Desperately she crawled feeling as if gravity itself was trying to hold her back. She made it to the hill and began to climb. Her hands clinging desperately to the smooth shining stones of the path. **_

_**Almost there. She lifted her eyes to see the Duck in White only a few feet away. He knelt down and reached out a hand for her. She reached out in return, her hand almost to his. She tried to grab the hand offered to her, but her hand passed through his as if he were a ghost. She looked up in fear. Their eyes met. Through the dark colored visors that hid his face, Gosalyn swore she could see tears in his eyes, then he vanished.**_

"**_Oh no! Don't leave me! Please come back!"_** **_Gosalyn cried out._**

Seconds later she awoke on the sofa, sweating and trembling. A dream. It was just a dream. She sat up. Her body was soaked in perspiration. She looked at her hands. She was actually shaking from fear. It had only been a dream, it wasn't real, yet it was so vivid.

It was then that she was overcome with the strange feeling that she was not alone. Gazing around the living room she saw nothing. Then a movement in the entrance hall, near of the front door, caught her eye. She looked on with disbelief and perhaps a little fear as an apparition of a teenage girl moved to the bottom of the staircase. She was dressed in an Medieval style costume. She wore Navy blue leotards with a white French styled blouse and a dark blue vest. She had ankle boots and a shimmering black mask, her fire red hair was pulled back in a tight French braid. The costume actually reminded her a bit of her QuiverWing Costume. The _apparition_, turned to looked at her only for a moment then began to ascend the staircase. For some reason, Gosalyn got up and ran after her. She got the the bottom of the staircase in time to see yet another ghostly figure standing at the top of the stairs. The Duck in White!

The figure of the girl stepped up next to him. He took her hand, smiling at her warmly. They both looked toward Gosalyn, then faded from sight.

Gosalyn stood in utter shock. Did she really see all this or was she still dreaming. Maybe it was all a dream. Gosalyn returned to the sofa and laid down. She was visibly shaken by the whole ordeal. She closed her eyes and tried to relax.

A few minutes later, the front door opened and Drake and Morgana walked in carrying bags of Christmas goodies. Gosalyn sat up in surprise. She hadn't even heard the car pull up.

Drake glanced over at his daughter. Seeing her sitting up,wide eyed watching them, he commented sarcastically "Ah yes, now that the hustle and bustle of the day is over, she's feeling better, naturally." But Morgana saw the disturbed look on the child's face. Putting her packages down she walked over the the sofa. She saw that Gosalyn looked unusually pale and she had been sweating and was trembling a bit. "Gosalyn, are you alright?"

The little girl opted to shake her head _No_ rather than to try and explain the experience she'd just had, knowing full well, they wouldn't believe her. Morgana touched a hand to the child's forehead. No fever, but obviously, Gosalyn wasn't feeling well. "You just lie back down and rest, dear. I'll warm you up some soup." Gosalyn tried to smile a thank you, since she didn't feel, at the moment, like talking. Laying back down, she saw Drake shoot her a _"you'd better not be faking it"_ look.

Closing her eyes, she thought about what she'd just seen. A dream? Ghost? It _was_ Christmas Eve, but Scrooge lived in _Duckburg_ not St. Canard! Maybe it was a warning of some kind? Could it have been a premonition? The girl in the Robin Hood outfit did resemble her. Could that be herself some day in the future? Then what of the Duck in White? The same person from her dream. Was he an angel come to warn her? Or perhaps to guide her on a journey?

Gosalyn drew a deep breath and relaxed. Maybe it was just a dream. Still,She would like to tell somebody about it. Morgana knew about ghost and things, she wouldn't laugh, but she'd tell Drake. Gosalyn was sure her dad would scoff at her. Say she was making it up for attention of that she'd been watching to many horror movies.

Gosalyn was certain he'd have some smart crack about the dream. He couldn't understand

something like that, then again, how could he. He'd never had anything like that happen him, after all.

The day passed slowly. Drake and Morgana busily getting things ready for Christmas Day. They had gotten a tree and put it up and trimmed it while Gosalyn was content to watch from the comfort of the sofa. Though she knew her dad wasn't pleased with her for not participating in that particular tradition. It was the first Christmas Morgana was really a part of, and Drake wanted everything just right.

Night came and Gosalyn didn't put up any guff about going to bed early, even if it meant going back to that cold room. She decided to sleep in her clothes, well; except for her shoes, that was. It was just to cold to change into her PJs. She curled up in the quilt thinking how a simple little floor heater would solve the hold _cold room_ problem. But Drake had ranted on how much those things ran up the electric bill. He'd insisted that he'd have the furnace checked out after the holidays. Until then, her tailfeathers would just have to freeze, she supposed.

It grew dark and quiet. Drake had stayed home since it was Christmas Eve. Gosalyn could hear her father and Morgana talking in their bedroom about the baby. It was always about the baby. Everything seemed to center around their unborn child. If only her father could put back a small amount of his time for just her. Maybe she wouldn't feel bitter towards the baby then. But it seemed that the baby had consumed his entire being. He had no part of his life reserved for his adopted child, not any more.

Gosalyn pulled the covers over her head. It was Christmas Eve, she should be excited, but she wasn't. She was sad and for the first time since he'd adopted her, she felt very alone. Her thoughts turned to the Duck in White, from her dream, from her vision earlier that day. There was something about him. She closed her eyes, if she tried very hard. maybe she would dream about him again.

**_Gosalyn found herself standing back on the multi-colored walkway. The storm was still rising. She looked around, her father was no longer in sight, nor was the path he had taken. In fact, the path she stood on now came to an end only a couple of feet in front of her. The bright silver and white path was not there any more, none of the previous paths were. She glanced around hoping to see the Duck in white, somewhere. Ahead of her, the hill was still there, but there was no path leading up to it, nobody standing atop of it. Her heart sank. She had wanted to see him again._**

_**Just then, where the main path ended, a new smaller path began to form before Gosalyn's eyes. It was not bright and glowing as the other had been. It was rather dull. The rocks were navy blue and white. They lead up the hill top and over it, out of sight.**_

_**Could the duck in White be over the hill somewhere waiting for her. There was only one way to find out. She took a step forward.**_

"Gosalyn, Gosalyn, wake up, dear. It's Christmas Morning." Morgana's voice called softly. Regretfully, Gosalyn opened her eyes, having been waken from the dream she very much wanted to finish.

Morgana was standing over her, shaking her gently. "Gosalyn, come on, it's Christmas Morning." Gosalyn sat up slowly wiping the sleepy tears from her eyes. Morgana coaxed her anxiously "Come on Gosalyn. Time to open presents!"

Gosalyn suppose Morgana was trying to get her all excited about Christmas. But this year, she just didn't have the Christmas Spirit. But to appease her stepmother, she climbed out of bed to go down stairs with her.

Trudging down the staircase and into the living room behind her step mother, Gosalyn

saw her father standing in front of the tree. The first thing she noticed was that fact that there were much fewer gift this year than usual. Somehow, that was something Gosalyn had expected. Gosalyn had recalled hinting heavily all summer, and a good part of the Autumn, for a new bike. She didn't see one. But after having her room taken away from her, she'd lost faith in her adopted father.

"Merry Christmas, ladies." Drake greeted. He kissed both of them on the cheek. Something Gosalyn didn't welcome. "So who gets to give out gifts this year?" he asked, looking at Gosalyn with anticipation. The little girl, however, turned walked over to the fireplace and flopped down in front of it, listlessly.

Drake scowled at his daughters reaction but Morgana put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I don't think she's really feeling better just yet. Otherwise, she would have had us both up at the crack of dawn opening gifts!"

Drake smiled warmly at his wife "I guess that's it." he said then motioned to the sofa. Why don't you sit down and make yourself comfortable, I'll do the honors this year."

Morgana took a seat on the sofa while Drake began to pass out the presents. Not that Gosalyn was counting, but Morgana obviously got the most gifts.

Drake had gotten his wife every article of clothing he thought she'd like, and accessories.

He'd gotten her jewelry, a beautiful watch and exotic perfumes.

She gave him a statue of DarkWing Duck that she'd had made special. He was over joyed, of course with such a gift. She'd gotten him a video game she knew he'd like and some expensive after shave.

Gosalyn sat amidst the brightly wraps packages that's were for her. For some reason, she didn't want them. But she knew her father and Morgana were watching her, waiting for her to open them. Slowly she began to open the gifts. New socks, gloves, a stocking cap,

galoshes, a new book bag. Practical things,things that she needed. There was nothing worth getting excited about, however. It wasn't like either of them had gone out of their way to get her anything special. Worst of all, no electric blanket. The one thing she'd hoped they would be thoughtful enough to get her.

She could tell they were both watching her, waiting for her reaction to the gifts. _"Thanks." _She murdered just loud enough to be heard. The lack of enthusiasm in her voice was obvious.

"I'm sorry we didn't get you a lot of things this year dear," Morgana said apologetically.

"We had a lot of things picked out for you. But when we realized we needed your room for the baby, we knew you wouldn't have room for all that stuff in the smaller room."

Drake smiled and rose from the sofa where he was sitting next to his wife."Well Santa may have stopped by with another gift or two, lets see." he walked around the tree looking carefully. "Oh, what's this?" he asked finding an envelope stuck in the branches.

He read the writing on the front of the envelope _"To Gosalyn from Santa." _he handed it to his daughter.

Gosalyn took it politely and to please the adults, she opened it and pulled out the contents. There was a letter and another piece of paper. Gosalyn looked at the paper first. It was some kind of voucher – _for baby furniture!!_ What kind a cruel joke was this. Tears welled up in Gosalyn's eyes. How could her dad be so mean. Drake saw the tears

in his daughters eyes. He quickly sat down next to her and put an arm around her. He took the letter and opened it.

"_To Gosalyn from Santa; _

_The money from the sell of your old toys is hereby put towards the purchase of the new furniture for the nursery which you get to pick out all by yourself. Your parents are to take you to the furniture store and allow you to choose the new crib and cradle and some toys for your new brother or sister. After all you're part of the family too, right. Merry Christmas, _

_Love Santa._

Upon hearing the letter, Morgana realized what her husband had done with Gosalyn's old things. She also realized he'd just made yet another colossal blunder! He again expected Gosalyn to see things through his eyes, the eyes of an adult. The eyes of an expecting parent. It didn't surprise her when Gosalyn bolted away from her father in tears, flee back up stairs to the confines of the cold cramped room at the end of the hall. Morgana shook her head woefully "Oh Drake..."

_to be continued...._

_Authors Note: Here's another fic that is considerably longer than I'd originally planned. I'll try to get this one wrapped up in the next couple of chapter, if possible._


	8. Tracker's Story Part8

Disclaimer: I do not own DarkWing Duck or any other Disney character.

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the DarkWing realities that could have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker.

_**Tracker's Story Part8**_

Christmas Morning had been a disaster for Gosalyn. She now believed that her father had pushed her aside in favor of his unborn biological child. She knew he had been blindly unfair with her over the baby, but selling _her_ stuff for the _baby's_ things?! What was life going to be like for her once the baby was born?

Gosalyn lay on her bed in the cold little room, shivering under the covers. Why did all

this feel like a Cinderella story? Banished to the storage room by her wicked adopted father for his biological (yet to be born) sibling could be pampered in luxury. Gosalyn could almost picture herself being forced to do the baby's laundry and clean it's room. Her father insisting the whole time that it was some sort of bonding ritual!

Well maybe that was something of an exaggeration – she hoped. Strangely enough. In this Cinderella story the roll of the merciful Fairy God Mother was played by the Step Mother! Morgana really was trying to make things easier on Gosalyn. That was in part because Morgana knew Drake's personality so well. She had put up with his little tantrums in the past. She knew what Gosalyn went through with her father.

Gosalyn pulled the quilt completely over her head and tried to shut out all the pain. She allowed her thoughts to drift back to the events of the day before, when she was alone on Christmas Eve. What she had witnessed in her own home. Those apparitions or what ever they were, had they been real? Perhaps she had imagined it all. She could have still been dreaming. The Duck at the top of the stairs was the same one from her dreams. There had been something familiar about him ..if she could just put her finger on it. The costume he wore. It did resemble her dads ...but yet it was different, like ...Dark Warrior's! He looked like Dark Warrior! Well, the negative version anyway. The costume was different colors, there were no spiked shoulder pads yet, there was a strong resemblance right down to the fedora! Maybe it was his ghost!

OK, now Gosalyn had succeeded in scaring herself. She tried to push the ghost theory out of her mind. Dark Warrior was the future version of her dad, who was very much alive! In _this_ time anyway. Could ghost travel back in time! Gosalyn huddled further into her quilt, wrapping herself tightly in it. She closed her eyes, trying to have some pleasant thoughts, it was Christmas after all. There had to be something good she could think about.

She tried to think about the Christmas the year before, when her dad lay near death in the hospital. The miracle that had happened then had been a true Christmas Miracle. Not only did her father live, but things had changed for him. He had gained the respect of St. Canard citizens. His ego had actually deflated a lot (but not entirely) since that day. Things had been so good. Gosalyn thought things could only get better in their lives. Her father and Morgana were married. Gosalyn was willing to share her dad with Morgana if that's what made him happy. She and Morgana had gotten along very well. They had all spent time together as a family. So what happened? What went wrong? They were having a _real_ kid that's what happened.

Gosalyn felt a tear roll down her soft feathered cheek before falling to sleep and entering yet another dream.

_**Gosalyn found herself on that same path. The mixed colored rocks under her feet. She stood at the edge where that path ended and another path began. The other path was smaller and more narrow than the main path. She looked ahead of her, down the path, and up the hill where it led. Somebody was coming over the hill. Was it the Duck in White?**_

_**No, it was that teenage girl again, the one in the Robin Hood type costume. She walked tot he top of the hill, she looked at Gosalyn, her eyes seemed so sad. The girl dropped her head woefully and turned and descended back down the hillside, out of sight.**_

_**Gosalyn felt sorry for her, she seemed so sad and lonely. Where was the Duck in White? Why wasn't he with her? Why wasn't he standing on the top of the hill anymore? Gosalyn looked down at the small path that lay before her. She wasn't sure she wanted to follow it, it seemed do solitary and empty. She took a step back...**_

Gosalyn awoke from the dream feeling very lonely all of the sudden. Wrapping the quilt around herself, she climbed out of bed and went to the little window to look out. Other kids were outside playing with the toys they'd gotten for Christmas. Even so, the skies were dark and dingy with the gray clouds that hung low over the entire city. Everything around seemed so barren and empty. If it had at least snowed. The soft white snow would have brightened the gloomy surroundings. Gosalyn stared out at the dismal view and wondered if she would ever see the sunshine again.

The day after Christmas, Drake and Morgana had gone down town to get the baby's furniture. Gosalyn had flat out refused to go. She wasn't trying to be a brat about everything the way Drake thought, it just hurt so much to have to give up everything for the baby. Why couldn't her dad see what he was doing to her, why?

Days passed, the holidays ended. Drake had called somebody to come out and look at the furnace as he said he would. However, upon hearing the estimate of how much it would cost to get the heat going in the room, he flat out refused to pay for it. He decided

it wouldn't hurt Gosalyn one bit to leave her door open and allow the heat from the hallway to warm the little room. She was cutting herself off from the family too much as it was, he rationalized. It would be a good idea for her door to stay open, at least that way they would be able to look in on her from time to time.

Of course Gosalyn wasn't giving up what privacy she had. So she opted to keep the door shut when she was inside and tough it out in the cold until spring. Graciously, Morgana had gone out and bought her an electric blanket. She'd even threatened to turned Drake into a Coconut Cream Pie, and invite the Muddlefoots over for dinner, if he said one word to the girl about the blanket. Gosalyn had heard the threat and almost hoped her dad did say something to her in front of his wife! No such luck.

Months passed. The snows fell and melted away. Spring arrived and with it the warm and pleasant weather. The gray clouds were swept away for blue skies and sunshine. The grass and leaves grew anew. Things became lush and green again. The air smelled fresh. It would have been nice if Gosalyn stupid little window opened for she could let some of the fresh air in.

The spring season passed into summer. School let out for vacation. Gosalyn and her father had drifted apart in the months gone by. Gosalyn had made a point of staying away from the house as much as possible. She went with her friends to the movies, the park or where ever she could go to get away from the house. She'd asked to go away to camp, she hated camp, but she also hated that dinky little room. Drake said no, the baby was to be born soon and Gosalyn was to be there for the occasion, like it or not.

Drake himself had had a rough time. Those strange experiences and dreams had continued erratically. In some ways they'd gotten worse! He was having visions of the Duck in White now in broad daylight while he was wide awake. And SHUSH kept him updated on the Time Continuum disturbance. The tear in the Time ans Space continuum was still growing. Dr. Bellum was still convinced that the whole thing circled around DarkWing. She continued to press him about any unusual occurrences in his life. He denied anything happening out of the usual. A bold faced lie, of course. But he was scare to admit to what was happening. He was scared of what the alternate reality might have been. If it meant he and Morgana were never married or that the baby wasn't suppose to be. That was it. The whole thing seemed to start falling apart when they discovered tat they were going to have a baby.

Gosalyn had been shooting hoops the better part of the Friday afternoon in Mid June. Coming home, she found the car gone. Good, she wouldn't have to listen to her father going on about the baby. She went into the kitchen for a snack and found a note on the refrigerator.

"_Gos, Took Morgana to the hospital – the baby's coming! _

_Love; Dad"_

As Gosalyn read the note, she felt a knot in her stomach. Her life was about to change forever, and not for the better.

In the hospital...

Drake was pacing nervously up and down the waiting room floor. What was taking so long! Was anything wrong?! They'd tell him if anything was wrong wouldn't they? They'd have to, it was the law! At least, Drake thought it was the Law. He wrung his hands together anxiously. He would have been allowed in the delivery room with Morgana of course, but she insisted that that would make _her_ too nervous!

A nurse stepped out of the delivery room "Mr. Mallard?" she called calmly and motioned for him to come in. Drake walked into the room, more anxious than ever. His wife was lying in bed holding a small bundle in her arms, Doctor and nurses standing around her.

Drake stepped over to Morgana's side. She looked up at him with tired eyes and a big grin. "Drake Mallard, meet your new son," she said softly. Drake looked down at the face of his new born child. The baby had his soft white feathers and his beak (sorry to say) but he had his mothers pale green eyes. "My son. It's a boy ..It's a boy," Drake said almost to himself. He looked at the little miracle that was a part of him. He couldn't put in to words what he was feeling. He'd never felt that way before. He'd never been so proud in all his life. Then he said as if for the first time "I'm a father. I'm really a father!" At that moment,

he had another _experience_. This time, the setting was all the same, but Gosalyn was standing on the other side of the bed looking on, smiling. She looked at him "Awful tiny ain't he?" she said with a laugh, then she was gone.

Drake blinked. He glanced around the room for his daughter, she wasn't there. It had been one of those anomalies, as Dr. Bellum had called them. Anomalies, more like hauntings. The fact that he'd had another experience just after the baby was born only strengthened his fears. The birth of his son was tied into the whole Time-Continuum-Alteration thing. Well if setting the Time and Space Continuum back in sync meant not having this child, it could just stay out of sync!

Morgana and the baby were allowed to go home the next day with strict orders that the new mother was to stay off her feet for awhile. There was quite a reception at the Mallards home when Drake arrived with his wife and new born son.

LaunchPad, the Muddlefoots, and much to drake chagrin, Morgana's family.

Gosalyn had stayed in her room the entire time. She felt as if she'd been forgotten by everybody now, even Honker, who was waiting with his parents to see the baby.

She could hear the excited voices as Drake and Morgana came in with heir new born child. She heard Drake say quite proudly "His name is Derek, after Derek Blunt the famous SHUSH agent."

"Oh isn't that clever," came Binky's ever perky voice.

"He does favor my daughter, doesn't he." That was Maloculo voice. Which spurred a rebuttal from Drake of course.

She lay on her bed feeling sorry for herself and hoping at this point that they had forgotten her. No such luck "Gosalyn!" Drakes voice boomed from the entrance hall. Gosalyn didn't respond, she lay quietly hoping he wouldn't call her again. A few seconds passed "Gosalyn!" this time there was a trace of annoyance to his voice. With great dread, Gosalyn got up and walked out of her room. Her feet felt like they were caked in cement as she walked ever so slowly down the stairs. Everybody was standing around, making a fuss over the new born Morgana was cradling so lovingly in her arms. Drake was standing next to his wife when he saw Gosalyn coming down the stairs. "Gosalyn, come see your new baby brother."

Everybody turned to look at her. All of them wearing stupid grins on their faces as if she was suppose to be so happy about the baby. Gosalyn doddered up to Morgana and Drake. Morgana leaned down and introduced Gosalyn to her new brother. Gosalyn looked at the baby and instantly hated him! Her feeling must have shown by the expressions on the faces of the people around her. Before anybody could say anything to her she turned and headed back up the stairs without saying a word.

Drake watched her as she went. He wasn't pleased by her reaction to the baby at all.

"All children are jealous at first," Binky offered. "it's just natural. Why I remember Tank was so jealous when Honker was born, he tried to sell our little Honker to the Gypsies."

Drake didn't even hear her. It was happening again. Anomalies, hauntings – whatever they were called. He suddenly saw an apparition of a teenage girl dressed in a Medieval costume standing at the top of the staircase, staring at him accusingly. Her face was veiled in a dark mask, but he could still see the tears in her eyes. Then she turned and vanished.

Morgana saw her husband staring up towards the top of the stares, looking as if he'd seen a ghost or something close to it. She very politely asked if everybody could come back another time saying she and the baby needed to rest.

When everybody had gone, she looked at Drake with concern. "You had another one of those anomalies didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. I had one in the hospital too." Drake admitted as they put the baby down for it's nap. He put an arm around Morgana as they watched their new born son sleeping. They both stood looking at little Derek with wonder. "Don't worry Morg. Nothing is going to happen to this family, I promise."

At SHUSH Headquarters.

J. Gander entered the Lab where Dr. Bellum was looking at the computer screen. "Why did you send for me Dr Bellum?"

"Take a look." Sara Bellum said motioning to the monitor screen. The spectral light pattern representing the Time and Space Continuum was changing color, growing darker. The tear in the fabric of time covered about 50 percent of the pattern now.

"Oh Dear, is there any way of mending this rent in Time?" J. Gander asked.

"I don't know. If we had been able to repair it when we first discovered it about 9 months ago, maybe." She drew a deep breath knowing that DarkWing had not paid heed to her warnings about finding the cause of the rift in his life. "Well, DarkWing Duck, what ever befalls you now, you have nobody to blame but yourself."

_To be concluded..._


	9. Tracker's Story Part 9 the conclusion

Disclaimer: I do not own DarkWing Duck or any other Disney character.

_If you haven't read_ "_The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you._

_This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the DarkWing realities that could have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker._

_**Tracker's Story Part 9 the conclusion **_

J. Gander had once again summoned DarkWing Duck to SHUSH Headquarters to discuss the Time Continuum problem. DarkWing Duck once again refused to cooperate with them saying he could handle it on his own. The truth was he didn't want anything done. If what he had right now in life was a mistake of time and reality, he didn't want it corrected! He had everything he had ever wanted in his life and more! He wasn't giving it up, no way. For all he knew, reality_ as it was meant to be_ could have been a living nightmare. Maybe FOWL had taken control of the world or St. Canard was wiped out by the plague! Maybe he was doing the world a favor by not _setting things right_.

DarkWing had said only that he'd try and figure it out, that's it. J. Gander had a feeling the Masked Mallard was not wanting to change things. But he trusted DarkWing to do what was right in the end, he always had.

After DarkWing had left Dr. Bellum made a strange discovery. "Look here at the spectral light pattern." she told J. Gander. She decreased magnification to give a fuller view of the picture. The light pattern seemed to come to and abrupt stop about 3/4ths of the way across the screen. "You see where the Time and Space Continuum seem to stop?"

J. Gander nodded.

"That shouldn't be. This band of light should go on forever. It does represent _time_, after all."

"Oh," J. Ganders face paled slightly. "Is there anything we can do?"

Dr. Bellum shook her head. "That's up to DarkWing Duck, it's _his_ life that's totally recking our whole worlds very existence." She glanced at the monitor. "What's this?" she asked.

"What's what?" J. Gander asked, almost afraid of what the answer might be.

"There's something else - around - the Time Continuum. I've never seen it before."

She expanded the view of the patter some more. Strange there was a sort of glare in the depths of space. Like a reflection of light. But for light to reflect, there has to be something for it to reflect off of. She recede the view screen several times. Moving visual

perspective back far enough to see what else was out there. Her jaw dropped and she shook her head "It can't be,"

"Wha ..what? What is it?" J. Gander asked fearfully.

"I'll show you." Dr. Bellum began to manipulate the image on the screen until a sort of transparent globe could be seen completely encasing the Time and Space light pattern.

"Good heavens,What is that thing?" J. Gander asked with amazement.

"A bubble.." Sara Bellum replied flatly. "Our entire existence is contained within a _bubble_." She pointed out "Do you see where the Time Continuum seems to start?"

J. Gander saw it "Just where the tear first started. When QuiverWing went into the future..." His eyes followed the Time Line to where it ended at the wall of the bubble, which, according to their data, was in the not so distant future.

For Drake Mallard, life went on. He refused to except that his. life as he knew it. was an error in time. He dealt with the appearances of his _apparition_ the best he could, saying nothing to anybody other than Morgana.

As the weeks passed, Drake spent every spare moment with his baby son. He had cut back his hours on patrol every night and got up a little earlier ever day to spend time with Derek. Meanwhile, Gosalyn was staying away from home more than ever. She spent the night with friends as much as she could. When she was home, she stayed hid away in her room. Drake had not said a thing to her about it, mostly because he barely noticed her anymore. Though when Gosalyn's Birthday rolled around, he fell back on the family tradition rule. Holidays and special occasions were a family affair.

Drake had forbidden Gosalyn to leave the house that day, he didn't trust her to come home in time to celebrate her birthday with the family. So Gosalyn had to spend her birthday in front of the TV, looking for something to watch.

The day drug by slowly. Finally dinner time came and after that, Morgana brought out Gosalyn's birthday cake. She'd made it herself. A Double Chocolates Fudge cake and chocolate chip ice cream.

Morgana lit the candles and Gosalyn made a wish, though she doubted it would come true – the little rugrat was there to stay! She blew the candles out. But before they could have any cake she was to open the gifts they'd gotten for her.

Gosalyn was as listless about getting them as she had been at Christmas time. Still she opened them as politely as she could. Morgana had given her a ten pound box of chocolates, which Drake quickly confiscated, saying the girl could have one peace a day, no more.

Then came the gift from her dad. Gosalyn opened it. A book? She looked at the title _How to be a Big Sister._

Morgana took one look at the book and felt ill "Oh Drake.."

Drake looked at his wife baffled by her reaction  
"What? It's a perfect gift for her. It's very educational, Morgana. Gosalyn's a big girl now and she needs to learn how to be more responsible. " He took the book from Gosalyn and opened it. He held it open to a page and showed it to Gosalyn. "See, this tells you how you can help mommy and daddy with the baby. You can help change his diapers and give him a bath and when he gets older...."

Gosalyn slipped quietly out of her chair and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Drake asked her, not having finished telling her about the book. Gosalyn didn't answer, she just headed for the kitchen door.

"Hey," Drake called after her "Don't you want some cake and ice cream?"

She didn't answer. "Don't forget your book, you can read it when your in your room ...."

She was already gone.

Drake turned to his wife, still confused over what he'd done that was so wrong.

Morgana could only look at him and shake her head wearily "Oh Drake.."

Gosalyn had sat herself in front of the TV trying to find something entertaining to watch. And trying to get her mind off of how unfair her father was being with her over the baby.

He was so obsessed with his baby son that he didn't have time to be a father to her. It seemed to Gosalyn that now that he had a _real_ kid, he didn't see her as his child anymore. He didn't even see her as **_a_** child anymore, rather he expected her to take the roll of an adult with Derek. Today was her birthday, she had just turned 10, she was still a child. She still needed a father, but apparently her father no longer needed her.

Flipping through the channels, she found a story about a kid stranded on an island with a wild horse, it might be worth watching. She was actually getting into the story, when Drake came in with Derek in Tow. He sat down on the sofa next to her and took the baby from his bassinet. He cradled Derek lovingly, making ridiculous baby talk to him the whole time, something in the line of "Did mummsie run daddy and Derek out of her old kitchen? Did she? Did she? Aguuee – Aguuee, goochie goochie goo..." Gosalyn stole a glance at her dads face. His entire face lit up when he looked at Derek, he had never even once looked at her that way.

Gosalyn scooted over to the other end of the sofa and turned up the volume to drowned at her fathers idiotic babbling. Just then the doorbell rang. Morgana came from the kitchen to answer it. "LaunchPad, come in," Gosalyn heard her Stepmother say.

Gosalyn saw LaunchPad walk in carrying a plastic bag. "I hope you and Drake don't mind my stopping by like this Morgana" he held up the bag "But I wanted to bring this by for a special somebody."

Gosalyn smiled, feeling a little better knowing that LaunchPad had not forgotten her birthday.

"Hey DW," LaunchPad called walking into the living room "Hey ya Gos."

"LP, It's good to see you. I know how hard it is for you to make it to our house from all the way down the street." DarkWing said in good humor.

"Aw DW, you know I just don't want to intrude. But," he said and reached into the bag "I just had to stop by and give this to Derek!" He pulled out an airplane shaped teething ring and handed it to the baby. Gosalyn's smile vanished. She sat and looked at the two men fussing over the baby. It was _her_ Birthday, her dad had made her stay home all day because of it, and the baby gets all the attention – and the presents!

"So how does it feel to be a father?" LaunchPad asked oblivious to Gosalyn's presence.

Gosalyn had heard her dad asked that question so many times since the baby was born. Never once had he commented that he already knew what it was like to be a father.

"I tell you LP. There's not a feeling like it in the world." Drake said proudly as he watched Derek attempting to eat the gift just given him. "I never knew there was anything missing from my life until this little guy came along. I still can't believe it. He's all mine! You don't know how wonderful it feels like to have a child all your own, LP."

That was it. Gosalyn turned the TV off and headed for the staircase. "Hey Gos, where ya going?" LaunchPad asked. She didn't answer.

"Just ignore her LP," Drake said intentionally loud enough for Gosalyn to hear "She still going through the Jealous Sibling stage."

Suddenly, Gosalyn spun around, her emerald green eyes flashed with anger. "Sibling! That baby is not my sibling! How can he be! The one thing I've learned living in this house, family means _blood_!I'm not blood related to anybody in this house, so you're not my family. That stupid brat isn't my brother, Morgana isn't my mother ...**_and you're not my father!!_ **You _never_ were!!?" She scream those words at the top of her voice before running out the front door in tears.

Drake and LaunchPad both sat in utter shock, even the baby had been stilled by Gosalyn's loud outburst. If only Drake had known, he might have gone after her, begged her to forgive him. If he had only known that that would be the last time he ever saw Gosalyn again.

When she didn't come home that night, DarkWing Duck went looking for her. He searched everywhere all night and into the next morning. When he finally came home he was so exhausted that he only made it to the sofa before he collapsed onto the cushions and was asleep.

In his worried sleep, he had his final strange dream of the many paths of different colors and of Gosalyn.

**_He found himself halfway down the dark blue path. The weather had turned violent. He had gone down the path following the cries of his baby. But now the crying had stopped. Ahead of him, he saw only a shimmering wall like water suspended in mid air. He could see nothing beyond that. He looked around, then behind him. Gosalyn had stepped onto a completely different pathway and was moving away from him."Gosalyn stop!" he cried and tried to run after her. But every time he came to where the path he was on met the main path, he was suddenly back where he had started running." The whole time while his adopted child was moving further and further away. She followed a small path of what looked to be blue and white. She never once looked in his direction. She just kept walking. Then she was gone. "Gosalyn, come back! I'm sorry back.. Don't leave me, Gosalyn!!"_**

"Gosalyn, come back!!" Drake woke up yelling. He sat up on the sofa where he'd fallen asleep. Beads of sweat rolled from his brow. He was trembling. He understood the dreams meaning all to well, Gosalyn was gone form his life forever.

Time passed. Days drifted into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. In spite of the dream, he kept searching for his child. He searched the city, the country,the world, he never saw her again. Rumors sprang up with the passing of time. Some people said Gosalyn had run away to another country and married into a life of wealth and luxury at a very young age. Some rumors claimed the child had never left St Canard. She spent her entire life on the streets right under DarkWing's nose. Other rumors claimed the child had died the same day she ran away.

DarkWing had stopped listening to the rumors, they were more than he could bare. His life went on, however, but he was never really happy. He and Morgana had other children besides Derek. Drake had tried to be a loving father to them. But he just couldn't get close to them or anybody else after he lost Gosalyn. Perhaps a subconscious retribution to Gosalyn, in some way, for having driving her away.

He had changed his appearance by and by, trading in the cape and vest for a blue trenchcoat. He no longer felt like DarkWing Duck. It was Gosalyn who first believed in him and had made him the DarkWing Duck the world had come to know.

Ironically, his detective skills were honed to perfection in his search for his daughter. He had put away his use of hi-tech gadgets. Waffle Launchers and Laser guns weren't going to help him find his daughter. As his detective skills became known world wide, he was enlisted to help solve mysteries that had stumped even Shedlock Jones. He'd even discovered Elvis _was_ alive and living on an uncharted desert isle with a millionaire and a movie star! His skills in detective work had become so renowned that he had been dubbed _The Tracker. _Very few people called him DarkWing any more.

He had stopped seeing apparitions and having those strange dreams. He'd come to realize too late that it was, Gosalyn, not baby Derek he had been in danger of losing. And in his desperate attempt to hold on to his son, he'd lost his daughter. Now it was too late. There was no way of setting things right again. Was there?

Years later back in the old DarkWing Tower. ..

DarkWing Duck AKA The Tracker was not hesitant for a moment in crossing into the wall of light, the vortex, that appeared before him. He had known the moment he saw it, it was the chance he'd prayed for. A _second_ chance.

He stepped onto the other side of the vortex and found himself in a swirling tunnel of light. A figure in black ran passed him so fast that he was little more than a blur. But DarkWing -The Tracker knew who it was. There were others besides himself in the tunnel, all of them having crossed into the tunnel from their own vortex. One of them was dressed in a sleek black, skin tight costume and a silky cape. Another seemed to be just a boy dressed in a simple pale blue Quack-Fu GI. There was one dressed in silver and white, The Tracker recognized him from his dreams and apparitions in his past. It had been this one who had appeared to him when the fabric of time was disturbed. Next to the Duck in White was a young girl. The Tracker knew her as well. She had been one of the _apparitions_.

They were the ones, this Duck in White and the girl, who had been in the reality that destiny had meant to be. The Tracker looked at the girl. He could feel his heart breaking. It was her, wasn't it? Gosalyn, his Gosalyn, as she was meant to be. The Duck in White? The Tracker knew who he was without asking. He knew who they all were, And he knew, as did they all, why they were there. Without a word being spoken by any of them, they all turned and started down the tunnel of light after the one called Dark Warrior Duck. And to set destiny back on the path it was always meant to follow.

_**The End**_

_Authors Note; **Shedlock Jones** for those who don't know, was DuckTales' version of Sherlock Holmes._


End file.
